The suit was filed last year by Netflix customers who found, after starting new Netflix accounts that the video-streaming company had kept copies of their personal information and rental history from accounts that had been closed long before.

Retaining data on individual users, as well as anonymized aggregations of data showing user behavior, makes it easier to recreate recommendation lists for customers returning to the service after having closed previous accounts.

VPPA, however, requires rental companies to delete personal data and rental histories after an account has been closed for a year or more.

Though restrictions on the type of data a service company can keep and the length of time it can retain personally identifiable records could cause endless trouble for non-video-rental companies such as Facebook, they are currently keeping Netflix itself away from Facebook.